CPS asks feds for delay on new standardized test

Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune

William Moreno, 9, is recognized as a winner of a Spanish heritage essay contest at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting. Also Wednesday, CPS chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett sought a delay in the rollout of a new standardized test.

William Moreno, 9, is recognized as a winner of a Spanish heritage essay contest at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting. Also Wednesday, CPS chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett sought a delay in the rollout of a new standardized test.

(Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune)

Juan Perez Jr. and Diane RadoChicago Tribune

Hancock College Prep could become the Southwest Side's first selective-enrollment high school.

Byrd-Bennett told school board members that fully implementing the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, test is "unwarranted," and that she will instead talk to the U.S. Department of Education about expanding a limited pilot program for the test.

"At present, too many questions remain about PARCC to know how this new test provides more for teachers, students, parents and principals than we are already providing through our current assessment strategies," Byrd-Bennett said.

Her request comes amid rising concerns over new tests based on more rigorous Common Core standards. Critics have questioned the cost of the new exams, the quantity and time involved in testing, and the loss of local power over standards and testing.

Last week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said testing and test preparation risked "dominating the calendar and culture of schools and causing undue stress for students and educators." President Barack Obama also expressed support for cutting back unnecessary testing.

Byrd-Bennett expressed similar concerns to the Illinois State Board of Education in a summer memorandum asking that CPS be allowed to give the PARCC exam only to 11th-graders and a sampling of grade school students. The remainder of grade-school students would take an alternative test the district currently uses.

Student enrollment on the 20th day of school this year continued a decline that began in the early 2000s. The 396,683 students counted on that day represents a reduction of roughly...

Enrollment at Chicago Public Schools this year dipped below 400,000 students for the first time in at least 20 years.

Student enrollment on the 20th day of school this year continued a decline that began in the early 2000s. The 396,683 students counted on that day represents a reduction of roughly...

(Juan Perez Jr.)

But state officials said federal law gave them no authority to consider such a request.

The PARCC test replaces the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, which since 1999 has been used to assess 3rd- through 8th- graders. Performance on PARCC will be one of the key ways schools will be judged.

Earlier this year, more than 30 high school and K-12 districts in several suburban counties joined to oppose the shift to PARCC for high school students as a standardized state exam.

Also Wednesday, the Board of Education unanimously approved a plan to make Hancock College Prep High School on the Southwest Side the city's 11th selective-enrollment high school for the 2015-16 school year.